Peeping tom caught spying on women in Bothell library bathroom

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BOTHELL, Wash. -- Police are looking for a peeping tom who was twice spotted spying on women in the bathroom of a local library.

Parents and employees at the Bothell Public Library are on high alert after a man was caught sliding a camera phone into a woman's bathroom stall earlier this month.

The woman, who was with her child, spotted the phone and left, but the peeper got away before authorities arrived.

"It's concerning. If I was at the library and I had children, I'd make sure that I monitor my children," said Sgt. Ken Seuberlich with the Bothell Police Department.

Police say neither the child nor the mother were hurt, and investigators believe the man may have tried to do the same thing two nights later. In that case, library staff spotted him and he ran off.

Parents who count on the library to be a safe place for their children are disturbed by what's been happening.

"You can never be too careful, unfortunately," said parent Anne Petersen.

Petersen said she takes her daughter Audrey to the library every few weeks.

"You hear about that stuff and, unfortunately, you hope it's not where you live. But it does happen," she said.

Library staff are now patrolling more often and police are asking parents to be alert and vigilant. They don't have a great description of the peeper, but they say both cases happened between 7-8 p.m.

"We're a public building and have public restrooms. Of course, you have to be vigilant and in this case the mother and the child, she was vigilant, so that's how we were able to identify this incident," said Bill Ptacek, the director of the King County Library System.

This isn't the first time the Bothell Library has been rocked by crime, either. A few years ago a man sexually assaulted two girls in the children's section.